126 MY SOMALI BOOK 



fine air of breeding ; but handsome is as handsome 

 does, and there is a sinister quality in his black-browed 

 beauty that well accords with his murderous tendencies. 



Making geological researches in the neighbourhood 

 of my tent at Libah Ale was a hoopoe, who fully agreed 

 with the latest dictum of the medical profession that 

 nothing is so good for the health as digging, only he 

 uses a pick-axe instead of a spade. There is not a 

 stain upon his character, though we may deprecate 

 a taste for the odoriferous in his domiciliary arrange- 

 ments as hardly befitting a bird who once wore a 

 golden crown. 



Did you know that ? My authority as to the 

 hoopoe's claims to royal insignia is Mr. Lockwood 

 Kipling, and he would not have said it if it were not 

 true. It seems that King Solomon was having a ride 

 on his magic carpet, and Apollo, getting jealous, tried 

 to give him sun-stroke. But the hoopoes came to 

 the rescue, and spreading their wings to form a sun- 

 shade over the fainting monarch earned his lively 

 gratitude. 



Asked to name their reward, they prayed for 

 golden crowns like his own, and their request was 

 granted. But alas for the cupidity of human nature ! 

 the hoopoes too soon found that the coveted adorn- 

 ment marked them out for slaughter, so they hastened 

 to petition for a removal of the fatal gift. Solomon 

 listened to their entreaties and changed the crown of 

 gold to one of feathers. And to this day the hoopoe 

 wears a feathered crown " to witness if I lie." 



One night here I was scored off again. A little 



